Hard Work
by KoalasareNOTbears
Summary: Suzy lives in a land of female knights and warrior queens. But really she's just trying to finish school, understand boys, look after her seven siblings and save her farm from bandits. Should be a snap, right?Set during Page. ON HIATUS!


Ok, it's just the life of a normal tortallan girl who gets to go on the standard life-changing adventure… BUT WITH A TWIST! She has to dress up as a boy and infiltratea secret society- oh wait, Tamora took that one already. Bum. Thought I was onto something. Oh well, it's still pretty interesting, the first chappie is all preliminary, setting-the-scene type of stuff but it's gonna get better! Actual characters will show up next chapter. OH! And italics are Suzy's thoughts.

Disclamer: I own nothing! Don't sue.

Being a girl was hard work. Especially with six sisters and one brother. Suzy was pretty good at it though, she'd been doing it for fifteen years after all, but it was getting harder as time went on. Boys stopped hitting you and started kissing you and old people who used to dismiss rowdy behaviour as "childish shenanigans" now tsked you as you ran by.

_What exactly was wrong with yelling at the top of you voice anyway? Tine__'s horse had just had a little foal!_

Not to mention the birth of a male into the family. Yes, Suzy's problems had started when her mother fell pregnant for the sixth time. Suzy had been eleven at the time and boys were starting to turn from playmates and irritations to things of actual interest.

Suzy's mother, Petra, was originally from Sarain, but her parents had scraped together enough money to send her and her brother Damien, out of the war-torn country. Petra hadn't seen or heard from her parents since. The dark-haired beauty ended up marrying a rugged Tortallan peasant farmer at barely sixteen. Tom Harding was blond, tall, strong and had been considered quite the catch in his time, many young girls had been heartbroken at his marriage to the pretty foreigner. They seemed a perfect couple. His temper was controlled by her calm quick wits. Her dreaminess was sharpened by his no-nonsense quick wits.

The marriage had been followed by the joyous birth of twins, Edward and Ella, two serious babies who took their mother's dark features. However when the bright-eyed toddlers were nearing five and Petra was eight months gone with child tragedy struck.

Edward and Ella had been playing in the court yard when a horse took fright and bolted. It careened into the children and Edward died almost instantly while Ella spent many months in bed, injured physically and mentally. Petra witnessed the whole incident and the shock sent her into labour. Amongst all that sorrow Suzy came into the world.

The house was so bust mourning the death of her brother it scarcely noted her appearance. Eventually it did recover and slowly filled with laughter again as girl after girl after girl joined the family. Lisa, twelve, Meg, nine and Hannah, six also came with a progressively desperate need for a son to carry on the name.

Of course Tom and Petra loved each one of their daughters but as they grew older the chance of another child, male or female grew slimmer. So when Petra fell pregnant again it had been an ironic twist of fate that she should have another pair of twins, Lucy and Jack.

In the face of a boy after all these years Lucy was practically forgotten. Suzy remembered the first few years of her life, overshadowed by her older brother's death, and though this time Lucy was overshadowed with a brother's birth, Suzy identified with the loneliness and took special careof her youngest sister. Suzy also resented the birth of a boy because she had been the most likely candidate to inherit the farm with no male heir.

Whew, enough family politics. Despite all this intrigue the family was close and tight-knit and loving.

"Shut yer mouth while yer eatin' girl!" Petra snapped at Meg, who had been warbling away, not noticing the potato and piece of broccoli crammed into her mouth. Tom and Suzy were locked in a furious argument regarding the best type of horse breed, Ella was frantically trying to feed both Jack and Lucy, and Hannah was seconds away from throwing her soup over Lisa's head. A knock of the door went unnoticed for several minutes. Finally the loud beating reached Petra's ears and she quietened her family, before going to answer the door.

"No, Ma! I'll get it. It's prolly Tine, she said she come by-" Suzy's cry was cut short when Petra opened the door revealing two farm hands standing breathless with their frightened wives.

"Bandits! Bare minutes away!" one of them gasped as they tumbled into the house.

Ohhh! Vague cliffhanger! Will the bandits pillage and plunder the dear little homestead? Will Lisa ever get the soup out of her hair? Will Meg ever stop talking? Will Suzy ever get a date to the prom? Hang on… proms aren't invented in Tortal! What will happen next! Tune in next week! R&R please!


End file.
